One of the most iconic sections of motorway in the country is set to get a significant once-in-a lifetime facelift.
National Highways is planning to replace eight bridge deck structures along the spectacular six-mile section of the M6 through Lune Gorge in Cumbria, between junction 37 and junction 38 of the motorway at Tebay.
Seven of the bridges carry the M6 itself as it snakes through the gorge while an eighth carries the local A685 road over the motorway near Roundthwaite. The huge bridges range from 46 metres to 142 metres in length with heights of between 5 metres and 17 metres.
The Lune Gorge section of the motorway celebrated its 50th birthday in 2020 but the bridges are now showing their age and a major refurbishment programme is being planned.
National Highways is looking to carry out some preparation work next year before main construction work gets under way in 2027. It will also be staging a series of ‘meet the team’ events in 2025 to keep local people informed about the project – building on months of work which has already taken place to engage with local communities, including parish councils.
Khalid El-Rayes, National Highways’ Senior Project Manager, said: “The bridges that carry the M6 and A685 over the Lune Gorge in Cumbria are rapidly reaching the end of their serviceable life. When this section of the M6 was opened in 1970 no-one could have predicted the huge rise in domestic and commercial traffic, with thousands of cars, coaches, vans and HGVs now pounding the motorway daily.
“That huge volume of traffic has taken its toll, but this project will ensure this section of the M6 plays a key role in connecting businesses and communities across the north and beyond for decades to come.”
A bridge deck is the surface of a bridge where vehicles travel and a key structural element of the bridge itself.
Future-proofing the M6 now will enhance safety for motorway users and reduce the cost and disruption of unplanned maintenance and emergency repairs as the bridges wear and tear and further deteriorate.
National Highways has already appointed a lead contractor, Kier, to deliver the work and deliver designs focusing on minimising inconvenience to motorway users and people living alongside the motorway.
Staff have already been out and about carrying out ground investigations and other surveys to help prepare for the work and design a project programme with the aim of keeping drivers on the move while the repairs take place, while also minimising the impact on local communities.
Mr El-Rayes said: “Our delivery partners including Kier, RPS, Aecom, and Tony Gee, bring decades of experience in engineering and design, ensuring that we can deliver this project efficiently and safely.
“We’ve been working with them to develop design solutions to reduce the length of roadworks and number of closures. By using specialist equipment we’ll be able to replace the bridge decks safely and more quickly than traditional construction methods. This will mean less disruption for motorists and surrounding communities.”
It is likely that traffic management will involve using a contraflow system on one carriageway, using the hard shoulder, to run two lanes of traffic in each direction. This will free up the opposite carriageway and will allow work on all the structures simultaneously – significantly shortening the project timescale. A Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership study published in the summer has already concluded a contraflow system is likely to have a negligible impact on congestion, the logistics sector and tourism trade.
As well as discussing the project and local people’s concerns, the project team has been delivering social value projects which will continue until the refurbishment has been completed in winter 2030/2031.
The social value work has included a £10,000 donation to Bendrigg Trust in Kendal to help improve their outdoor space for disabled service users including customers with particularly complex needs. It also includes a further £10,000 donation for a ‘Sharing Shed’ building at Shap Primary School to store food and other donations for the local community.
PIC-NATIONAL HIGHWAYS
